elision [deborah kayser + tristram williams]

09–03–14: carriageworks, sydney

the abundance of breath (2009/2013)

Meros (2024) - zone expérimentale

June 29th, 2024, performed by ensemble mosaik in the UpTo3 Festival

thermo_doxa (2024) [clarinet, viola, drumset, electronics] - ensemble mosaik

Fish and Balloons (2024) - Duo XAMP

for lower strings trio and stereo electronics
Performed by Catinblack Ensemble
Viola - Sofia von Atzingen
Cello - Ema Grčman
Double Bass - Javad Javadzade

ELASTIC(mother) - 2025

Wanderungen

Recorded at Mix One Studios, Boston, in May 2013


My fascination with percussion is directly related to my Brazilian heritage. I remember being mesmerized as a young child watching the enormous percussion ensembles (sometimes over one hundred percussionists) that perform during the official carnival parade in my hometown, Rio de Janeiro. I will never forget the feeling of having my whole body shaking as an involuntary resonator to such potent sounds. The experience was both physical and metaphysical.

When Sam Solomon asked me to write a new work for him, I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate that same transcendental feeling I once experienced. The challenge was to find ways of translating it into a solo piece. It was not until I watched a video with the late Tito Puente that I realized the intensity I wanted to capture had little to do with number of performers or sonic simultaneity. What I was searching for was a proximity to that dangerous zone that blends controlled and uncontrolled virtuosity, rationalized and spontaneous reactions to extremes, unpolished and refined responses to physical challenges. Only by immersing the performer in such frantic, incongruent, almost hypnotic and yet agitated mind state could I hope to convey these feeling to the audience. “Descarga” is my attempt to create such a sonic world, celebrate Sam’s artistry, and revisit my roots.
-Marcos Balter




This recording is supported by New Music USA’s CAP Recording Program, made possible by endowment funds from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and with funds from The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.

Marcos Balter, Descarga (2006)

Liza Lim - Shimmer Songs (2006) 
‘double quartet’
For string quartet (2 Vln, Vla, Vc), harp, 3 perc
SFCMP conducted by David Milnes

more info: https://limprogrammenotes.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/shimmer-songs-2006/

San Francisco Cont Music Players

Liza Lim - Shimmer Songs (2006)

for flugelhorn, trombone and percussion

after Ishtar, thirty-five Shia adhān, burning mounds of tyres, lacrimatory riots.

performed by the indomitable ELISION Ensemble (Tristram Williams, Benjamin Marks and Peter Neville) in Huddersfield, February 2013.

where dust is in their mouths and clay is their food (2012-13)

Music from the film 'the Last Emperor' (1987), by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Arranged for percussion instruments, recorded, and mixed by Aditya Ryan Bhat at Shepparton, Australia, August 2020.

Image: seal of the House of Aisin Gioro (public domain).

Theme from The Last Emperor

Aditya Ryan Bhat

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